She started by quoting Molly Shannon's old Saturday Night Live character Sally O'Mally: "I'm 50! I'm 50!"

She worked her way up to a big revelation.

Jodie Foster opens up about her personal life at the Golden Globe Awards.
Golden Globes

"I have a sudden urge to say in public something I have never been able to say. ... I'm sort of nervous but not as much as my publicist. ... I am ... single."

She went on to acknowledge that people may have been expecting her to declare something else. But, "there's no big coming-out speech tonight," she said. "I did my coming out a thousand years ago back in the stone age."

Now, she says, celebrities are expected to reveal all the details of their private life. But she made it clear she wouldn't be going the whole "make the public revelation, followed by the tabloid cover and reality show" route "because my life is so boring." She continued, "You might be surprised but I am not Honey Boo Boo child. That's not me. And never will be. My reality show would be so boring." She finished up by thanking her former partner, Cydney Bernard, her sons and her mom, evoking tears from the audience.

Twitter blew up with chatter that it all meant she was retiring, but backstage, she said that wasn't the case at all, reports USA TODAY's Bryan Alexander. "I could never stop acting. You'd have to drag me behind a team of horses. I'm not retiring. I'd like to be directing tomorrow. I'm actually more into it than I have ever been."

What was she trying to say? "People change. Change is important. And your work evolves. My work is evolving."

Evolving into what? "I feel like acting has been this amazing film school for me. I'm really looking forward to directing more. And using all the things I have learned. And the things I feel."

Beyond that, she said, "The speech speaks for itself. It's been a long career. It's not just a career. It's friendships and relationships. This is one of the first lifetime achievement awards I have gotten. It feels like a graduation. I feel like I'm graduating from high school. Or college. It's a big moment."